WALTHAM, Mass., Feb. 3, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Syndax Pharmaceuticals, Inc., today announced the appointment of distinguished breast cancer specialist, George W. Sledge, Jr., M.D., to its board of directors as an independent director. Dr. Sledge is currently professor and chief of medical oncology at Stanford University Medical Center. He specializes in the study and treatment of breast cancer and directed the first large, nationwide study on the use of paclitaxel to treat advanced breast cancer. He served as chairman of the Breast Committee of the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (now called ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group) from 2002 - 2009, where he played an important role in the development of several nationwide clinical trials. He has published over 280 articles in medical journals about breast cancer and chaired several nationwide clinical trials involving new breast cancer treatments.

"Dr. Sledge is a preeminent breast cancer researcher and clinician and his experience with ECOG and in other settings in directing and evaluating clinical trials for breast cancer therapies will be invaluable to Syndax as it evaluates the combination of entinostat with hormone therapy in a pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial for metastatic breast cancer. Syndax will benefit enormously from the experience and perspective that George brings to the company," said Luke Evnin, Ph.D., a member of Syndax's board of directors.

Dr. Sledge serves as editor-in-chief of the journal Clinical Breast Cancer and is a past president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). He has also been chair of ASCO's Education Committee, a member of the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program's Integration Panel, a member of the Food and Drug Administration's Oncology Drug Advisory Committee (ODAC) and a member of the External Advisory Committee for The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) project.

Dr. Sledge was awarded the Hope Funds for Cancer Research 2013 Award of Excellence for Medicine, received the 2006 Komen Foundation Brinker Award for Scientific Distinction, the 2007 Breast Cancer Research Foundation's Jill Rose Award and in 2010 was awarded the William L. McGuire Award from the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

Dr. Sledge holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a medical degree from the Tulane University School of Medicine. He completed his training in internal medicine at St. Louis University and specialty training in medical oncology at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

About Syndax Pharmaceuticals

Syndax is developing entinostat for the treatment of patients with therapy-resistant cancers. Entinostat is designed to prolong the effectiveness of current cancer treatments through an epigenetic mechanism and has been designated a Breakthrough Therapy by the FDA when used in combination with exemestane in ER+ metastatic breast cancer. The company holds worldwide rights to entinostat, an oral, selective HDAC inhibitor that is expected to be evaluated in combination with exemestane in a pivotal Phase 3 clinical study for the treatment of ER+ metastatic breast cancer.